Method for configuring PRACH resource, method for acquiring resource configuration, base station, and user equipment

1. A method comprising: configuring, by a base station, a supported coverage enhancement level and a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource corresponding to the supported coverage enhancement level for enhanced PRACH communication between the base station and a user equipment; transmitting, by the base station to the user equipment, a resource index identifying a first PRACH configuration from a plurality of PRACH configurations according to the supported coverage enhancement level and the first PRACH resource, each of the plurality of PRACH configurations specifying a PRACH resource associated with a coverage enhancement level for enhanced communication of PRACH preambles, and the first PRACH configuration specifying the first PRACH resource associated with the supported coverage enhancement level; and receiving, by the base station from the user equipment, an enhanced transmission of a first preamble of a PRACH that is transmitted in the first PRACH resource according to the first PRACH configuration identified by the resource index.

2. The method according to claim 1 : wherein the PRACH resource comprises a time-domain resource; wherein resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource comprises: a preamble format, a density of enhanced transmission opportunities of a preamble, a transmission opportunity of a preamble for an enhanced transmission at a density, or a quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of a preamble; and wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by the base station to the user equipment, the resource index of the time-domain resource comprised in the first PRACH resource configured for the supported coverage enhancement level, in response to the first PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource, wherein each index corresponds to resource configuration information of one time-domain resource.

3. The method according to claim 1 : wherein the PRACH resource comprises a frequency-domain resource; wherein resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the frequency-domain resource comprises a frequency offset value; wherein the frequency offset value indicates an offset of a starting location with respect to a starting location of a carrier frequency band for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at each coverage enhancement level, or wherein the frequency offset value indicates frequency-domain frequency separation for enhanced transmissions of preambles at different coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; and wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by the base station to the user equipment, the frequency offset value configured for the coverage enhancement level in response to the PRACH resource comprising the frequency-domain resource.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising: configuring a same frequency offset value for different coverage enhancement levels to indicate a same offset of starting locations with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band, for enhanced transmissions of preambles at all coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; or configuring a same frequency offset value for different coverage enhancement levels, to indicate same frequency separation between each coverage enhancement level and a previous adjacent coverage enhancement level; or configuring multiple different frequency offset values, wherein each frequency offset value is used to indicate a frequency offset of a starting location with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band, for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at a coverage enhancement level.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein: the PRACH resource comprises a time-domain resource, and resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource comprises: a preamble format, a density of enhanced transmission opportunities of a preamble, a transmission opportunity of a preamble for an enhanced transmission at a density, or a quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of a preamble; and when the PRACH resource comprises the time-domain resource, the base station transmits, to the user equipment, the resource index of the time-domain resource comprised in the PRACH resource configured for the coverage enhancement level, wherein each index corresponds to resource configuration information of one time-domain resource.

6. A method comprising: receiving, by an apparatus from a base station, a resource index identifying a first PRACH configuration from a plurality of PRACH configurations, each of the plurality of PRACH configurations specifying a PRACH resource associated with a coverage enhancement level for enhanced communication of PRACH preambles; acquiring, by the apparatus, the first PRACH configuration according to the received resource index, the first PRACH configuration comprising a first PRACH resource associated with a first coverage enhancement level; and transmitting, by the apparatus to the base station, a first preamble on the first PRACH resource at the first coverage enhancement level according to the first PRACH configuration.

7. The method according to claim 6 : wherein the PRACH resource comprises a time-domain resource; wherein resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource comprises: a preamble format, a density of enhanced transmission opportunities of a preamble, a transmission opportunity of a preamble for an enhanced transmission at a density, or a quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of a preamble; and wherein the method further comprises receiving the resource index of the time-domain resource comprised in the PRACH resource configured for the coverage enhancement level by the base station, in response to the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource, wherein each index corresponds to resource configuration information of one time-domain resource.

8. The method according to claim 6 : wherein the PRACH resource comprises a frequency-domain resource; wherein resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the frequency-domain resource comprises a frequency offset value; wherein the frequency offset value indicates an offset of a starting location with respect to a starting location of a carrier frequency band for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at each coverage enhancement level, or the frequency offset value indicating frequency-domain frequency separation for enhanced transmissions of preambles at all coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; and wherein the method further comprises receiving the frequency offset value configured for the coverage enhancement level by the base station in response to the PRACH resource comprising the frequency-domain resource.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising: receiving a same frequency offset value configured for different coverage enhancement levels by the base station and using the same frequency offset value as an offset of starting locations with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band for the enhanced transmissions of the preambles at all the coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station, to obtain starting frequency locations for the enhanced transmissions of the preambles at all the coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; or receiving a same frequency offset value configured for different coverage enhancement levels by the base station, and using the same frequency offset value as frequency separation between starting locations for the enhanced transmissions of the preambles at all the coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station, to obtain starting frequency locations for the enhanced transmissions of the preambles at all the coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; or receiving a frequency offset value configured for each coverage enhancement level by the base station, and using the frequency offset value for each coverage enhancement level as an offset of a starting location with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at a corresponding coverage enhancement level, to obtain a starting frequency location for the enhanced transmission of the preamble at the corresponding coverage enhancement level.

10. The method according to claim 6 , wherein: the PRACH resource comprises a time-domain resource, and resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource comprises: a preamble format, a density of enhanced transmission opportunities of a preamble, a transmission opportunity of a preamble for an enhanced transmission at a density, or a quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of a preamble; and when the PRACH resource comprises the time-domain resource, the apparatus receives the resource index of the time-domain resource comprised in the PRACH resource configured for the coverage enhancement level by the base station, wherein each index corresponds to resource configuration information of one time-domain resource.

11. A base station, comprising: a non-transitory memory comprising instructions; and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with the memory, and execute the instructions to: configure a supported coverage enhancement level and a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource corresponding to the supported coverage enhancement level; transmit a resource index identifying a first PRACH configuration from a plurality of PRACH configurations according to the supported coverage enhancement level and the first PRACH resource, each of the plurality of PRACH configurations specifying a PRACH resource associated with a coverage enhancement level for enhanced communication of PRACH preambles, and the first PRACH configuration specifying the first PRACH resource associated with the supported coverage enhancement level; and receive an enhanced transmission of a first preamble of a PRACH in the first PRACH resource according to the first PRACH configuration identified by the resource index.

12. The base station according to claim ii, wherein the PRACH resource comprises a time-domain resource, and resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource comprises: a preamble format, a density of enhanced transmission opportunities of a preamble, a transmission opportunity of a preamble for an enhanced transmission at a density, or a quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of a preamble; and wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to, when the PRACH resource comprises the time-domain resource, transmit the resource index of the time-domain resource configured for the coverage enhancement level, wherein each index is corresponding to resource configuration information of one time-domain resource.

13. The base station according to claim 11 : wherein the PRACH resource comprises a frequency-domain resource; wherein resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the frequency-domain resource comprises a frequency offset value; wherein the frequency offset value indicates an offset of a starting location, with respect to a starting location of a carrier frequency band, for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at each coverage enhancement level, or wherein the frequency offset value indicates frequency-domain frequency separation for enhanced transmissions of preambles at all coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; and wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to: transmit a frequency offset value configured for each coverage enhancement level in response to the PRACH resource comprising the frequency-domain resource.

14. The base station according to claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to further execute the instructions to: configure a same frequency offset value for different coverage enhancement levels to indicate a same offset of starting locations with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band, for enhanced transmissions of preambles at all coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; or configure a same frequency offset value for different coverage enhancement levels, to indicate same frequency separation between each coverage enhancement level and a previous adjacent coverage enhancement level; or configure multiple different frequency offset values, wherein each frequency offset value is used to indicate a frequency offset of a starting location with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band, for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at a coverage enhancement level.

15. The base station according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to: configure the coverage enhancement level currently supported by the base station and the PRACH resource corresponding to the coverage enhancement level, or configure all coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station and PRACH resources corresponding to all the coverage enhancement levels and indicate the coverage enhancement level currently supported by the base station.

16. An apparatus, comprising: a non-transitory memory comprising instructions; and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with the memory, and execute the instructions to: receive a resource index identifying a first PRACH configuration from a plurality of PRACH configurations, each of the plurality of PRACH configurations specifying a PRACH resource associated with a coverage enhancement level for enhanced communication of PRACH preambles; acquire the first PRACH configuration according to the received resource index, the first PRACH configuration comprising a first PRACH resource associated with a first coverage enhancement level; and transmit a first preamble on the first PRACH resource at the first coverage enhancement level according to the first PRACH configuration.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16 : wherein the PRACH resource comprises a time-domain resource; wherein resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource comprises: a preamble format, a density of enhanced transmission opportunities of a preamble, a transmission opportunity of a preamble for an enhanced transmission at a density, or a quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of a preamble; and wherein the processor is further configured to receive, using a receiver, the resource index of the time-domain resource configured for the coverage enhancement level by a base station, in response to the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource, wherein each index corresponds to resource configuration information of one time-domain resource.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16 : wherein the PRACH resource comprises a frequency-domain resource; wherein frequency-domain resource comprises a frequency offset value, wherein the frequency offset value indicates an offset of a starting location with respect to a starting location of a carrier frequency band, for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at each coverage enhancement level, or wherein the frequency offset value indicates frequency-domain frequency separation for enhanced transmissions of preambles at all coverage enhancement levels supported by a base station; and wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to: receive the frequency offset value configured for the coverage enhancement level by the base station in response to the PRACH resource comprising the frequency-domain resource.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18 : wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to: receive a same frequency offset value configured for different coverage enhancement levels by the base station, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to use the same frequency offset value as an offset of starting locations with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band, for the enhanced transmissions of the preambles at all the coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station, to obtain starting frequency locations for the enhanced transmissions of the preambles at all the coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; or receive a same frequency offset value configured for different coverage enhancement levels by the base station, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to use the same frequency offset value as frequency separation between starting locations for the enhanced transmissions of the preambles at all the coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station, to obtain starting frequency locations for the enhanced transmissions of the preambles at all the coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; or receive a frequency offset value configured for each coverage enhancement level by the base station, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to use the frequency offset value for each coverage enhancement level as an offset of a starting location with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band, for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at a corresponding coverage enhancement level, to obtain a starting frequency location for the enhanced transmission of the preamble at the corresponding coverage enhancement level.

20. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein: the PRACH resource comprises a time-domain resource, and resource configuration information of the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource comprises: a preamble format, a density of enhanced transmission opportunities of a preamble, a transmission opportunity of a preamble for an enhanced transmission at a density, or a quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of a preamble; and the processor is configured to execute the instructions to: when the PRACH resource comprises the time-domain resource, receive the resource index of the PRACH resource comprising the time-domain resource configured for the coverage enhancement level by a base station, wherein each index corresponds to resource configuration information of one time-domain resource.